Brazilian Neo-Soul: Could Tássia Reis be Brazil’s answer to Jill Scott? With a mixture of Jazz, Samba and Rap, artist plans big things for 2016!

Note from BW of Brazil: This blogger first became aware of the up and coming artist Tássia Reis perhaps sometime back in 2013 after seeing the video for her song “Meu Rapjazz”. Listening to her smooth Jazz tinged vocals and sparse Neo-Soul influenced productions reminded me of a number of mid to late ’90s/early 2000s black American artists experimenting with an updated take on Classic Soul sounds of the 1970s, particularly Jill Scott. But Tássia is no one’s clone! The moods she brings on her short 2014 EP debut come from her own soul…and what Soul it is! With a new year and the success of her first release, we anxiously await to see what she has in store for 2016! And if you’re not familiar with Tássia, who we briefly introduced to our readers early in 2014 and again late last year, be sure to check out the interview below as well as a few videos of her songs. We guarantee that all four tunes will be worth your while!

Tássia Reis – Meu Rapjazz

Tássia Reis: “We are strong in order to fight and we have a voice that will be heard, we want improvements, we want to leave the realm of ideas and go to the ‘front’

Portal Geledés talked to singer Tássia Reis singer during the 14th edition of the Feira Preta, which took place last Sunday (13) in São Paulo. Tássia was one of the attractions of the event and in the interview we talked about afroempreendedorismo (Afro Entrepreneurialism), black woman and projects for 2016.

By Natália Sena

The rapper has a velvet voice and stood out with her first EP, released independently in 2014. In this work, Tássia mixes rap, jazz, samba and the result of this are high quality songs. In addition to her artistic activities, the singer positions herself in relation to feminismo negro (black feminism) and the Movimento Negro (black movement). Are you curious to know more about Tássia? Then check out this interview.

Portal Geledés – In several interviews you speak of sexism in the world of rap. Since when you started, have you noticed any difference in the presence of women in rap?

Tássia Reis: The difference is that we women can understand in a different way now, I myself already see sexism in rap and in the world as a fact and something we need to deconstruct. What happens is that in interviews they always ask the same things, and so we end up falling into the same issues. This is a reality in the world, not just in rap and hip hop, in the media and in many other places. Few men have mobilized themselves to hear what we have to say about machismo, but at the same time more women have been able to say it, so I think this is a great victory in the sense that we can push these issues and have places to talk about it, and create a provocation in order to come to a conviction.

PG: What is lacking for black women in our society?

Tássia Reis: Respect and opportunity as Viola Davis said. We don’t have the same opportunities as other people have, neither the white man nor the white woman and not the black man. We are in the slime of society trying to climb to a space and when we get it it’s because we had to be three hundred times better, and this is very exhausting and criminal. Not to mention that the body of the woman in general is sexualized, it is brutally sexualized; we are exterminated in different ways, and also by the state, by public health that does not tend to us because it thinks our body is stronger than that of other women, so we see various types of crimes. The situation is critical, but I’m still hopeful because we are strong in order to fight and have a voice that will be heard, we want improvements, we want leave the field of ideas and go to the ‘front’.

PG – Recently singer Liniker Barros declared you as one of her musical references. How do you feel being a reference not only for him more but for this new generation of musicians, singers and young black men?

Tássia Reis: It’s an amazing thing! Linilker is a wonderful and complete artist and I think it’s an honor to be a mirror for these artists and youth too, because representation matters. It’s crazy me being a reference and at the same time he was a reference for me, this contemporary promotes in us a great return. And I think about doing my job in the best possible way in order that I, that he, and so many other artists and people can see ourselves through an artistic community that has grown. Through this we can climb to many places, not only in the artistic field, but in power, so we go to their heads, we go to the court, we will be president, after all, we want great things.

PG – The theme of the Feira Preta this year was the maturation of afroempreendedorismo. Do you consider yourself an afroempreendedora (Afro Entrepreneur)?

Tássia Reis: Yes I do, because I had to use my work to live it, and through this I developed along with other people learning mechanisms in order to do an artistic, cultural and executive production that has worked. Thus, we reached up a lot, more than we earned, we have no course of cultural production, our course is experiencing it, so we have been developing and trying to err less, in order to come up with a better product with a quality image, so that people can hear a good sound, come to the show and be well attended.

Tássia Reis – No Seu Radinho

We offer at least the basics, and we are thinking a little bigger to increase this flow because today I’m not just Tássia Reis, Tássia Reis has many people, there are DJs, backing vocals, a production with four people who are linked into artistic, executive and musical production. And with each passing day more people are working on this team, which further increases our responsibility. These are people who are getting into this flow and they need to be paid in one way or another. So I do consider myself an afroemprendedora, only a beginner (laughs), we are there at the beginning and I have huge plans.

PG – What can your audience expect for 2016?

Tássia Reis: 2016 is gonna be on lock! We are planning a new album, but I still can’t give details. But it will tie into all of this that we’ve done and said, so it will speak very much of ourselves, it will be us for us. I still can’t release the name, but has to do with us, with identity and many other things that will tied into it.